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Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant and the OJ shadow
USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston,
CLASS
magazine
USAfricaonline.com
and The
Black Business Journal
By Chinedu Nosike
(Written on June 10, 2005, just before the June 13, 2005 not guilty finding of the jurors who handled the charges against the 'king of pop')
No independent analyst armed with the facts and deliberations of
the Michael Jackson case, as broadcast on responsible media, should
find him guilty of the charges from Santa Barbara District Attorney
Tom Sneddon of lewd or lascivious contact with a child younger than
14 years old. Yet, I will yield on the point that only Mr. Jackson
and his accuser(s) know the absolute truth. There are no experts here
but these two parties. The so-called experts
are
making conjectures, or are, at best, sincere or prejudiced
guessers.
Second point is that the accusing family's need and desire for
wealth and riches is just as strong if not stronger than any alleged
sex drive in Michael Jackson. Third issue is that nearly every
prosecution witness has crumbled on cross-examination by Jackson's
attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. The prosecution's case is riddled
with reasonable
doubt.
In light of these facts in the entertainer's favor, how did we travel to this point where the so-called experts, pundits and reporters are telling us matter-of-factly that Michael Jackson is a child molester? He has a history of accusations but no criminal record. In a society where people have been known to kill their own family members for money why is it so difficult to comprehend that the Arvizos may have chosen to sacrifice a Jackson? How come, to so many, reasonable doubt does not seem to matter here? How did we get here?
The American constitution guarantees the accused a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. From the onset, according to polls, most American whites thought Michael Jackson was guilty while a majority of blacks thought he wasn't. Keep in mind that none of these people had ever been in Jackson's bedroom. I must state at this point that some of Jackson's staunchest defenders happen to be white. But they are in the minority. As soon as Neverland was raided I watched the commentaries on television and read the articles on the Jackson case and observed the constant reference to OJ Simpson. I was then further convinced that Jackson had a major huddle to overcome before he could even talk about presumption of innocence or his freedom for that matter.
How high is the OJ huddle?
I could never celebrate the acquittal of OJ Simpson. It was quite embarrassing to me to see so many blacks in public jubilation, considering that he may have actually murdered his ex-wife and her friend. My consolation came in the fact that this wasn't much a celebration for OJ as it was a victory chant over the Mark Fuhrman's of the world whom the black community knew too well. I also took consolation in the fact that this was the press' undoing, as it did not give airtime to those blacks with contrary views.
Since then, many American whites have been haunted by the image of this rich black man who presumably got away with killing two white people. After the trial I predicted that the next rich, black celebrity who will be caught in the Criminal Justice System would pay dearly for it. And it's NOT going to matter if he's guilty or not. I said this because I sensed venom in white America that will not dry until this defeat is avenged. A few years later Kobe Bryant walked into OJ's shadow.
A
resort employee in Colorado accused Kobe Bryant of rape. As soon as
Kobe Bryant was accused every poll showed that most whites thought he
was guilty. And again, only this young lady and Bryant were in that
room. He had a clean-cut image, handsome, rich, married, superstar
athlete and no criminal record and no past accusations plus his
accuser could gain financially from this allegation, but it did not
matter. I remember Nancy Grace on Larry King Live not only boldly
declaring that he raped her but described how he did it. Gloria
Allred, Diane Dimond, the whole gang could not wait to see Kobe
locked up. He was booed in several arenas across the country. As the
facts unraveled to Kobe's advantage the so-called experts stuck to
their guns. I wondered how anyone who passed through law school could
still think that it was a winnable case for the prosecution? Truth
is, it was not about facts, logic or presumption of innocence. It was
revenge. The image of OJ's acquittal had to be erased.
I must add that Kobe's accuser was smart enough to abandon the State's criminal case and filed a civil suit. She eventually reached a financial settlement with Bryant and is likely set for life just as Michael Jackson's accuser will soon be. Kobe was lucky, his accuser made some big mistakes. As Kobe's conviction looked more impossible Mr. Black-Or-White, Michael Jackson walked into OJ's shadow.
Another great huddle for Michael Jackson is the Media. This huddle, by my estimation, is not unrelated to the OJ shadow. And I say this because the American media is generally owned and controlled by white Americans. There's a strong desire within this demography to convict Jackson and the reporting evidences it. Among others, CNN has sunk to an all-time low. Opinionating has taken the place of reporting. You would see a newscaster and a guest in what is supposed to be an interview. The newscaster carefully lays down his opinions and then bounces them off the guest occasionally. It is not uncommon to see reporters such as Court TV's Diane Dimond tell open face lies as to what actually happened in court. She has even helped the prosecution by supplying them material she hoped could be used as evidence against Jackson. She has also forecasted Michael Jackson's death. I've heard reporters ask Jackson defenders if they would let their children sleep in Jackson's bedroom? I'm yet to hear them ask one person if he would open his home to the Arvizo family.
There's another reason for the media bias, which is not related to OJ. The American media is first and foremost a business. Propping up Michael Jackson will earn you a few millions but The Destruction of Michael Jackson is a billion dollar industry. Sometimes it's hard to watch the trial coverage without sufficient sense of humor to laugh it off, and I'm not even a Jackson fan. We got to this point where we supposedly know that Michael Jackson is a child molester by the mainstream media pounding its opinion till it is established as fact. We saw its maturity from 'think' to 'know'. Consequentially, a propitious climate has been manufactured for a conviction and it has nothing to do with the facts of the case.
Judge Melville is another huddle. I cannot sit here and tell you whether he has an agenda or not. He has made a few calls which I find disturbing; among those:
One, eight jurors come from a demography that mostly believes that Jackson molested the boy. Four come from the accuser's community. No blacks.
Two, the jury should have been sequestered. Human nature tells me there's no way this jury is not watching television. I think the Nancy Graces of the world know this jury is watching, too.
Three, he has given the prosecution so much armor that a conviction should be reversed on appeal. He even instructed the jury that they should consider things said about Jackson by his sworn enemies including stories that have been sold to tabloids for profit. Like I said, I'm not sure whether he has an agenda or not. But one thing I can say for sure is that if he is not a demon, he is standing between the devil and the deep blue sea. He is an elected official and his constituency says that Michael Jackson is guilty. If Jackson escapes due to any fault of his he will pay. Melville loves Melville more than he loves Jackson. And we have certainly seen it in this trial.
The last and not the least huddle for Jackson is Michael Jackson.
Why? Any man who is not sure whom he is or where he comes from is
dangerous to self.
Nosike, an information technologist, is a contributing writer for
USAfricaonline.com
and CLASS
magazine. This essay was written/published on June 8, 2005, before
the Jackson trial verdict.

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